§ 18. Mr. Jim Fitzpatrick (Poplar and Canning Town)What recent research he has commissioned into the link between drugs and crime. [44261]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. George Howarth)Current research includes work on the criminal life styles of crack addicts; on the effects of treatment on addicts' criminal behaviour; and on developing performance indicators for police anti-drugs strategies. Consideration is also being given to extending a project on drug testing and interviewing arrestees, the first results of which were published in April.
§ Mr. FitzpatrickI remind my hon. Friend of a recent visit to my constituency by Mr. Keith Hellawell to examine a ground-breaking drugs initiative called Project Charlie at Culloden school. Its aim is to educate young children on the dangers of drugs. Does my hon. Friend agree that education is the way forward rather than the approach that has been advocated by the shadow health spokesman, the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan), whose support for the legalisation of all drugs is surely irresponsible and simplistic? He should be asked to withdraw that support.
§ Mr. HowarthMy hon. Friend is right. He will recall that I made a similar visit to his constituency some time ago. Part of the new strategy that Mr. Hellawell announced recently is to concentrate resources on helping young people of primary school age and older to resist the messages on drugs. My hon. Friend is right to note that in a book called "Saturn's Children", the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton (Mr. Duncan) said:
The only completely effective way to ameliorate the drug problem, and especially the crime which results from it, is to bring the industry into the open by legalising the distribution and consumption of all dangerous drugs, or at the very least by decriminalising their consumption.My hon. Friend might reflect on the 0fact that the hon. Member for Rutland and Melton is now an Opposition Front-Bench health spokesmen.